House Republicans declare Obama jobs bill dead on arrival

Story from The Takeaway. Listen to audio for full report.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) declared President Obama’s jobs bill dead on arrival on Monday. Cantor said the House would consider elements of the bill, but refused to consider the entire $447 billion package.

President Obama responded to Cantor on ABC news by saying, “what he needs to do is to tell us what exactly he’s for, because what I’ve done is put forward what economists say can increase our growth by close to two percent, and put 1.9 million people ultimately back to work.”

Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway’s Washington correspondent, says the president’s jobs bill isn’t just facing opposition in the House. Senate Democrats are “tepid” about the bill.

“They don’t like how it’s paid for,” said Zwillich. “People want to support the president … they want to do something about jobs in different ways, but ultimately this is a campaign document.”

Lawmakers aren’t agreeing on the most important thing, according to economists, Zwillich says. “There’s nothing being done on Capitol Hill right now about demand.”

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